Love Me If You Dare 2, Time for Payback
by Red Warrior
Summary: Time for payback has finally come for Volke. But getting back at Sothe isn't very easy. Warning: Radiant Dawn spoilers.


**I know I shouldn't begin something while I haven't finished some of my other stories, but... I can't explain it ) I wanted to write about Volke and Nephenee, and people wanted a sequel to Love me if you dare, so here it is! I intend to make it a little less funny, at least at the beginning, simply because I don't want to write the same story (copy and paste isn't me). **

**I only own the right to play with Fire Emblem. **

**Love Me If You Dare 2****,**

**Time for Payback**

**Prologue**

Crouching down in some bushes wasn't really Volke's idea of a relaxing morning. It was nearing midday, and that blasted sun was high in the summer sky, drawing sweat from the assassin's forehead and neck. The heat was making his head spin, but as he had always done, Volke stayed put and unmoving, his dagger at the ready and his eyes focused on something which fate was his to decide: his enemy.

Or rather, his prey. Indeed, the poor creature had no idea a deadly assassin was scrutinizing its every movement, which made it vulnerable, unknowing, and unsuspecting. _And perfect_. Volke allowed a grin to show on his face; he hadn't bothered putting on his mask, his victim wouldn't even have time to see his face. The man's grip on his dagger tightened slightly, which made the smallest metallic noise; however, it was enough to catch his prey's attention – as far as freezing and raising one's head went – and Volke inwardly cursed.

It looked like his prey of the day longed to run away, but the murderer would have had none of that. Faster than lighting, he leaped out of the bushes and grabbed his soon-to-be dead victim by the scruff of the neck; he gritted his teeth when, by instinct, the captive one bit his arm and scratched at his wrist to make him lose his grip. _Fat chance, _Volke thought, almost chuckling. _Good night, now. _His dagger slashed, and after a few seconds the body under the flowing blood stilled. One could never live very long with their throat cut open.

Volke sighed and lowered the dead hare to the ground.

_And that's three, _he commented mentally as he tied the rabbit with the other two he had managed to catch that morning. The animals were quite big, and he was proud of his growing hunting skills.

Of course, hunting wasn't really necessary: as far as many normal people were concerned, you didn't need to spend your mornings crawling in the forest to catch something to eat. You could simply grab a basket and go to the market – Volke had invented those rhymes. But he wasn't particularly proud of that.

One day, there wasn't a single piece of meat at the market. When asked why, the merchants had said that there was some kind of disease running among the members of the herd which was used to provide them with food. So they had felt it was better to find another farming, and that would last only a few days. When Nephenee had told Volke that story, he had shrugged and said that they could always go hunting for rabbits, roe deers or whatever. The young woman hadn't been convinced, but Volke had bet that he could do it. Which made coming home empty-handed impossible. Meat was not necessary to Volke, but Nephenee seemed to like it a lot, and he wanted their son to grow strong too.

Ah, his son… Ryo. The green-haired menace. The cute ball of mischief. The smirking angel. Volke seemed to find a new nickname for his offspring everyday, a tendency Nephenee often frowned upon – his left cheek would always remember the day he had called Ryo a "greenish pain in the ass" for the first and only time. But all in all, Ryo had brought a lot of good things into Volke's life. First, of course, they had become a little family, but more importantly, having a child had made Volke sheath his daggers and hang up his mask. Oh, he still took contracts, but only from Bastian who requested his help about once every six months, so he made sure to keep in shape, but overall his career as an assassin was over.

Nephenee had been overjoyed. Of course, she had never liked this whole "killing for a living" thing, but she had accepted it just the way she had accepted the fact that Volke always stuck his cold feet against hers when he was asleep. So when he had told her of his intention to reduce his services to only the Count of Fayre, she almost jumped up to the ceiling – and she would have, if it hadn't been for her bulging pregnant stomach. Normally, Volke ought to have married her, but they had agreed that it was far too risky given that while people had no idea what Volke looked like, they knew his name, and the assassin doubted they would forgive all the deaths he had caused just for his wedding. _I do not need a stupid priest to tell me that I'm married to you, _he had said one evening. _If you want I can find two rings, and we can marry in our bedroom, and it'll be just the same. _Nephenee had found it cute. Well, as cute as Volke could get, at any rate.

As far as he was concerned as he walked back home with his rabbits swung over his shoulder, his life was set. As far as he was concerned.

Ohma really was a small, peaceful, quiet village. At first Volke had been reluctant to buy a house and live amongst other people, for fear that they might recognize him. But upon noticing that the houses stood at a decent distance from each others, and nearly ripping his ears off to shut out Nephenee's pleas, he had changed his mind. The little house they – _he_ – had bought had been built under big oaks, on the outskirts of the village. It was comfy, not too little but not too big, not too hot during summer and pleasantly warm during winter. Volke, who had never been attached to such things as shelter, had begun to think of the little yellow-painted house as home. Nephenee had given birth to his son here, this alone sufficed.

As Volke walked under the bright sun, he looked at two horses that were drinking water from a drinking trough, in the paddock next to the path he was walking on. The horses, two handsome stallions, had been a gift from Nephenee's father. He had given her the black one when she had moved in the house with Volke, and the deep brown one when Ryo had been born. The assassin hadn't really understood why his father-in-law – for the man, who knew nothing about Volke's past activities, kept calling him his son – had chosen that kind of gift, but he figured it was just as well. The horses were nice, easy to feed, and they could play with Ryo. They also came in handy when Volke needed to ride to Fayre to receive instructions about his next job.

Volke reached out and patted the black stallion's muzzle when it was timidly extended towards him. Ryo had named the horse Nuka, or at least Volke and Nephenee thought he did, because at that time it was the only thing their son could say. As for the brown stallion, Ryo called him Pickles because he always managed to feed him some of those. Poor beast.

Volke turned away and resumed walking to the nearing house. Feet before he reached his home, the door was swung open and a green bolt came out under the sun.

"Dad!" Ryo cheered as his little legs carried him to Volke. The murderer-turned-father dropped the rabbits and crouched down, ready to catch his rapidly approaching offspring. The impact came sooner than he expected; his son ran faster with each passing day. "Dad, you won't believe it! I ate a fly!" the young boy laughed, his arms around Volke's neck.

"Did your mom try to cook again?" the older man chuckled, tousling the deep green hair softly.

"I heard that." Volke raised his head to see Nephenee walking out of the house. She was wearing a nice green dress that complimented her hair perfectly. Her frown was just for show, because a smirk was tugging at her lips. "So our hunter is back. How many bears did you catch?"

"Why are you always making fun of my hunting skills?" the man groaned.

"Because you're always making fun of my cooking skills, that's why."

"Fair enough." Volke straightened up and let Ryo grab the rabbits. As he did every time his father came back from hunting, the boy ran off to deposit the preys in the kitchen where they would be taken care of by Nephenee. It was some sort of system the family had found so that everyone lent a hand. "He's learning really fast, don't you think?" he mused as he watched the boy saunter away.

"Well, while we're talking about what I think," Nephenee began as she walked over to her companion and wrapped her arms around his waist, "I think you should shave. Although that stubble suits you very well, it's not very pleasant to kiss, I'm afraid."

"Sorry, didn't have time," Volke apologized as he hugged her back. "I get no morning kiss then?"

"Mhm, I'll let it pass this time, but just this one time." Nephenie stood on the tip of her toes and deposited a soft kiss upon Volke's lips, which was returned just as tenderly. "My, aren't we gentle today, any special reason?"

The man shrugged. "I just felt like it. I guess I have to make it up to you for leaving early without telling you." Volke ran a hand through the long silk-like green hair and used his free hand to swipe a caress across Nephenee's cheek. "Or maybe I just felt like it."

The woman smiled sweetly and gave Volke's nose a playful poke. "Forgiven. At least until I can find something to be mad about." Nephenee pulled him close and nuzzled his neck; her nose immediately scrunched up. "While you're at it, take a shower, you kind of reek."

Volke rolled his eyes. "Charming, really," he mumbled. "I spend hours under the sun, rolling in the dirt, to catch something to eat and this is how you thank me? "You reek?"" He unwrapped his arms from around Nephenee and crossed them over his chest, feigning hurt. "I won't try so hard next time."

"Aw, you know I didn't mean it like that," the young woman pouted, tightening her embrace to coax Volke into returning it, to no avail. The stubborn man kept his hands away and turned his head sideways to avoid looking at her. "Don't be mad, you know I value your hunting abilities, I was just stating the truth! You _do _smell… a bit," she added in a tiny voice to make it sound more acceptable.

Volke never so much as looked at her.

Nephenee sighed. "Listen, why don't you go to the bathroom and take a nice bath? If you do," she pursued when he gave no sign he was listening, "I'll come and join you to make it up to you." She could have sworn she saw his ears twitch, which made her grin.

"Make it up to me?" he repeated, interested at last, as he glanced at her.

"You heard me right," Nephenee whispered as she leaned forward to nuzzle his shoulder. "And after I'm through with you, you're gonna wish we could stay in the bathroom for the rest of the day."

Volke growled softly and finally hugged her back. "I sure hope this is a promise."

"It is, believe me," the woman almost purred back.

"Prove it, then."

"Bathroom, now," Nephenee giggled as she pecked his cheek and pulled back. The brown-haired man groaned quietly at the loss. "Hurry up, you're losing time, it'll soon be lunchtime and if you're not in your bath by the time I finish cooking the rabbits, then you'll be sorry."

Volke rolled his eyes and walked to the house, speeding up his pace just for show. As he went past the living room, he saw Ryo sitting on the floor with two stones, talking to the inanimate objects. Volke shook his head; ever since Brom had told his son that he could talk to stones as if they were actual living things, the boy had collected stones and gave them names that matched the ones of people he knew. His favorites were Brom – not surprising – Ike and Sothe. When Brom had painted his newly-built barn, Ryo had painted his stones according to the hair color of everybody. _Cute_, had stated Nephenee._ Uck, _had winced Volke.

"What are you doing, son?" the brown-haired man asked as he came closer.

Ryo raised his head. "Oh, nothing dad. Sothe is just telling Mist he loves her, but he's shy you know? He's been trying for a month," the young boy smiled sweetly.

"Sothe and Mist? Ryo, you should stop talking with Brom, it gives you weird ideas," Volke said as he patted his son's head. "It's been almost three years since Sothe and Mist last saw each other, in fact the last time they were together was when you were born. Remember? I told you, you were born at the end of a war."

Ryo opened wide eyes. "You met Mom in the war?" The boy got to his feet and bounced, grabbing Volke's pant leg, his stones forgotten. "Dad! Dad tell me more about the war!"

"What do you want to know?" Volke sighed.

"Was Mom as beautiful as now?" the green-haired angel asked.

"Your mother has always been beautiful, son." The former assassin chuckled and patted the messy mop that was clinging to his leg.

"And you?"

"What about me? Was I as handsome as I am now?" he grinned.

"No, were you as old?"

Volke paused to find his words. He finally did. "You'd better run away before I decided to wash the floor with your hair, you little monkey." Ryo scrambled away to find his mother, cackling all the way. "Ungrateful halfwit," the father whispered, smirking, before resuming walking to the bathroom.

"Mom!" Ryo laughed as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed Nephenee's leg. "Dad wants to wash the floor with my hair! Save me!"

"What did you do to your father, Ryo?" the woman asked, a smile on her face as she cooked the rabbits.

"I just asked if he had always been this old," Ryo faked a pout.

Nephenee shook her head. "Ryo, your father is not old, why do you say that? It's not a very nice thing to say."

Ryo felt his mother was serious. "But I also asked if you always were this beautiful," he added in a tiny voice.

Nephenee's face immediately softened up and she smiled. "Aww, you're so sweet Ryo, thank you." She bent down to kiss her son's forehead. "And what did your father answer?"

"He said that you have always been beautiful."

Nephenee smiled even more. Coming from Volke, it meant much to her; the man didn't compliment anybody often, even if he thought no less. It made every nice thing he said very special; it didn't mean he didn't care very much for his family at all, Nephenee had just figured out Volke wasn't a very expressive person. He wouldn't openly display affection, were it physical or verbal, in front of other people. At home, he would kiss his "wife" and hug his son like any father, but he still had trouble doing simple things like letting Nephenee hold on his arm as they were outside where anyone could see them. Let alone on the few days Volke had agreed to go to the market with her.

There was one thing he acted like a real father about outside: his eyes always were on Ryo whenever they went out. Being amongst the darkest people to have ever walked on Tellius had taught Volke that danger lurked around every corner, so the assassin-turned-father often held onto Ryo's hand or ordered him to walk next to him. He scowled when the child ran off to meet someone he knew, and had more than once lectured the boy because he had left his sight. Brom always laughed when he did that and called him "mother hen", a nickname that irritated Volke to no end.

"Mom, did you hear me?"

Her son's voice pulled Nephenee out of her daydream and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, what did you say?"

"Someone's knocking at the door," Ryo explained when another set of knocking sounds was heard.

Nephenee immediately left the kitchen to answer the door.

"Is everything all right?" Volke asked as she went past the closed door of the bathroom.

"Yes, don't worry, it's probably just Emil bringing my bowl back," Nephenee said over her shoulder as she crossed the living room. The knocking grew louder. "I'm here, I'm here," she said with a smile as she opened the door. As expected, Emil was there, his white hair held in a ponytail and his short beard neatly trimmed, but the old man held nothing but his cane in his hands.

Emil sighed in relief when Nephenee opened the door. "I was starting to think you weren't home," he told her instead of his usual greeting. "I was about to search for you in the village."

"What is so important that you want to see me so much?" Nephenee smiled. "Did your horse escape again? I'll help you, but you really should get a new lock-"

"Listen, this has nothing to do with that idiot of a horse," the old man cut her off. When he saw he had her attention, he pursued. "There are young men gathering on the outskirts of Ohma, young men from our village."

Nephenee shrugged. "What's wrong about that?"

"And there are other men in white armor too," Emil carried on as if she hadn't interrupted him. At this, Nephenee frowned. "I thought they were travellers, but then I saw them give weapons to the young ones and they are shouting all kinds of strange things."

"What strange things?" the woman asked.

"Well, things like _The Queen lied to us! _or _Long live Lord Ludveck! _Although I don't know see what the duke of Felirae has to do with this."

Nephenee closed her eyes. Somehow, somewhere, she had known this day would come. It had been three years since the war ended, and from then on great responsibilities had been hauled onto Elincia Ridell of Crimea's shoulders. Now a Queen, Elincia lived to serve her people, but many nobles doubted her. Nephenee had heard of little revolts stirring up here and there, but were tamed down, so she thought they were only rumors. Rumors spread by people who thought that the crown of Crimea would fit Ludveck better than Elincia. Politics…

"Where are they?" she asked calmly.

"Up north, near your old man's house."

Nephenee thanked Emil and went back into the house. Her old soldier instincts had been roused by the idea of a fight, and although she disliked the idea of an upcoming battle, there was no way she was going there unarmed. Or unaccompanied. _I'll go and fetch Brom on my way there, _she thought as she opened the closet she had stored her signature blue armor in. _This is our village, there's no way they can come and force us to revolt. Against our good Queen Elincia on top of that. _

The thin halberdier threw on her armor and reached into the back of the closet to grab her trusted iron spear. She had hoped she would never see the day she would feel the cold steel under her fingers again, but there was no time to mope around. Nephenee jammed on her helmet and exited the bedroom she shared with Volke.

The man chose this moment to remind her he existed.

"Nephenee? Is everything all right out there? I heard noises-"

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just taking a walk!" she lied before she realized it. "Emil just came because he wanted me to see something." Well, half the truth anyway. "I'll be back for lunch, just watch over Ryo and keep an eye on the rabbits, they're almost done."

Water sounds could be heard. "Taking a walk? Where to? What's the matt-"

"See you later, love you!" And with that, the front door slammed shut before Volke could make a move to get out of the bathtub.

"Damn it," the man swore under his breath as he slipped in his bath once again. This wasn't good. Nephenee didn't "take walks".

As she walked at a fast pace along the paddock her horses were grazing in, Nephenee wondered why she had lied to Volke instead of asking him to come and help her. Her first thought was that someone had to stay to watch over Ryo, but she knew she had done this so no harm would come to her loved one. She didn't want Volke to be involved in this, and she didn't want her beloved son to stay home alone as a revolt took place.

Remembering the revolt, Nephenee shook her head and ran. It took her ten minutes to reach Brom's house. The broad-shouldered man was in his field talking with an old man. Still a bit lost in her thoughts, Nephenee told him to grab his armor and follow her; at first Brom just stared at her, but he caught the hint and hurried to his house.

Another ten minutes later – about the time it took Nephenee to shovel Brom into his armor and drag him along – both country soldiers reached the place Emil had spoken about.

Nephenee stopped when she caught sight of several young men lined up in front of white-armored soldiers. It gave Brom time to catch up to her, panting and sweating. "Horsefeathers, had forgotten just how heavy that piece of junk was!" Brom muttered. He took his large axe in his left hand to relieve his right arm; Nephenee still hadn't understood why the man had chosen to use axes while he always complained that they were heavy and hard to swing. A real mystery.

"Stop panting," she whispered harshly, her spear at the ready. The blue-armored halberdier looked around the corner of the house they were hiding behind. She was able to recognize many of the young men who were standing before the generals; she had worked with some of them. They were really nice people, and Nephenee couldn't understand why they would willingly follow those soldiers who tried to stir up revolts. _But they aren't dumb, they'll listen to me, I'm sure, _the young woman thought with determination.

She was wrong, but she didn't know it yet.

* * *

Not once did they listen to what Nephenee had to say. They were young, they were patriotic, so when a nobody came and kicked them in the rear, they listened to him rather than a woman they had known for years. Go figure.

Reluctantly, Brom and Nephenee had to fight their way through their friends to get to the generals. It hadn't been easy, slicing through the flesh of the ones she had taught how to ride a horse, how to fish, how to read and write, whereas they couldn't even scratch her armor. They were never meant for war.

Along the way, Brom and Nephenee met a curious young woman, with long blond hair and a hair band. She was dressed in various shades of blue, and had been having fun driving an axe fighter wild by running around him when Nephenee had spotted her. They kind of made a deal – although the blond woman never talked to Brom, and she never offered to help: she _decided _they wanted her help – and it was discovered that her name was Heather, and that she was a thief.

Although Brom grumbled a little, her help proved to be useful: as Heather sauntered quietly from man to man and happily plundered, Nephenee and Brom took advantage of the distraction to knock the fighters out. It still hurt, but less than killing their friends would. The generals too were easily taken care of; they had time to blabber something about the Duke of Felirae overthrowing Queen Elincia before Nephenee's spear silenced them forever.

How they would deal with the youth, the three of them didn't know – or, in Heather's case, didn't care – but there was one thing they knew: they would go to Melior to inform Queen Elincia of what was taking place in Crimea. They felt they had to go because they once had been among Elincia's friends – or, in Heather's case, just because Nephenee was tagging along; it was quite strange how the thief seemed to like the young woman.

Night had fallen by the time Nephenee brought the last young man home, still knocked out, and the first stars appeared as she neared her own house. She was already mentally planning which road they would choose, how much time it would take, and how to warn Elincia. Everything was fine, she thought with a satisfied smile as she pushed the front door open. Everything, yes, but a small unimportant detail.

Said detail was waiting for her in the middle of the living-room, arms crossed, looking pretty annoyed.

Volke stared at her, frowning, as if he had been standing like this for a few hours. Nephenee was not surprised when he didn't say anything, or when he didn't ask questions such as "Where have you been?" or "What the hell were you doing?". Volke didn't need to ask those questions, but Nephenee knew that she had to answer to them anyway. However, she decided to keep her cool, and managed to smile.

"Is Ryo already asleep?" the blue-haired woman asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She was glad that she had left her armor at Brom's, otherwise Volke would have suspected something. Well, he would have suspected _more_ at any rate.

Volke stared a little longer before he answered her. "Your son went to bed two hours ago," he said in a low voice. "He asked where his mother was, and I couldn't answer. He got worried, then panicked, and burst into sobs because he thought you would never come back. When I tried to reassure him, he accused me of kidnapping you. Otherwise, I had a charming evening, what about you?"

"My poor baby," Nephenee whispered, ignoring Volke's question on purpose. "He must be so worried, I'll go see him."

As she moved toward the rooms, the former assassin walked in her way. "If you had told me where you were going, I would have been able to answer him and all of this would have been avoided," the man said, his voice ever so dangerously low.

"I guess you're right," Nephenee admitted, shifting a little to see past him.

"Well, better late than never," Volke outwardly growled when he realized she wasn't listening to him. This got him her attention, and she blinked, probably surprised to hear him sound so feral, but enough was enough and Volke was deeply irritated by the fact she acted like nothing had happened at all.

Nephenee sighed. "I just went to talk with Brom," she half-lied.

"And you expect me to believe you talked with Brom the entire afternoon?" Volke said sternly. "Well, please tell me why." His hands shot up to grab her face, firmly but still gently, and Nephenee closed her eyes, afraid that he was going to hit her. "Tell me why you have such a gash across your hairline if all you did was _talk_."

Unconsciously, Nephenee's hand went to her forehead and her eyes widened when she felt the broken skin there. She had completely forgotten she had been wounded at the end of the fight, and she didn't think about cleaning it up. Big mistake, for it hadn't escaped Volke's sharp eyes.

"I… I…" she stammered lamely, rubbing at her forehead. Maybe if she rubbed a little harder, the cut would disappear and Volke would think he had imagined it. Fat chance.

Her lover's grip on her face tightened slightly and tilted her head so she was looking at him in the eyes. "Tell me, right now," he ordered, and his hard glare softened a little. "Something obviously isn't right, and I want to know what it is."

Nephenee thought she could bear his inquisitive stare, but mere minutes after he had spoken she found herself admitting everything. She told him about what Emil had wanted to see her for, the revolt, how afraid she was to harm her friends. She didn't tell him why she hadn't asked for his help, and he didn't pry. Volke instinctively held her closer as she whispered about the blood of those young men tainting her spear, for she was obviously shaken and in his heart, he had already forgiven her.

However, when she told him of her idea to travel to Melior to warn Elincia, Volke pulled back and held her by the shoulders. "No," he said simply.

"Volke, we have to do it! Maybe it means nothing to you, but Brom and I worked for Elincia, and she is a dear friend," Nephenee countered, ready for that kind of reaction. The killer opened his mouth to add something but his lover beat him to it. "And no, you can't tag along. I want you to watch over Ryo for a little while."

Volke almost choked. "Since when?"

"Since he is too young to travel with us, and I trust you more than anyone else to take care of him. He may drive you mad but you are still his father, he understands that." As Nephenee searched for other arguments, she staggered a little and absently leaned against Volke for support. Her legs were exhausted.

The brown-haired man noticed this and sighed. "Listen, you are tired, I can tell this wasn't an easy fight," he whispered as she rubbed her right eye. "You are going to get a good night's sleep, and we'll talk about this again in the morning. I want you to know why I think you shouldn't go, and I too need to know why you want to go." He kissed her forehead, careful of her scratch. "Is it okay?"

Nephenee nodded, and didn't even try to resist as he led her down the corridor. She hardly felt Volke cleaning her cut with a wet cloth, and she came to when he sat her down on their bed. Lost in her thoughts, she changed into her nightgown and sat on the edge of the bed as she watched Volke undress to put on a pair of loose pants. Many things clouded her mind; what she was going to tell him in the morning, how she was going to convince him that she was right. The young woman knew it would be hard to make him change his mind, but she had to do it.

Her mind was set.

As Volke sat down on his side of the bed, Nephenee reached out to hug his neck, startling him. "You are right, sweety, it's better if we listen to what the other has to say," she muttered against his shoulder blade.

"Glad you see things my way," he said, smiling a little as he kissed the top of her head. "Let's talk about this in the morning, for now you have to rest. Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, hun."

* * *

Volke yawned before he opened his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. Morning was a bitch, and it wasn't going to change anytime soon.

The man decided to start the morning with a nice hug and rolled over to embrace Nephenee. He frowned when he only grabbed empty air, but shrugged it off. Nephenee was a very early bird, and she would often get up before he did to cook breakfast. He would just have to find her in their house to get his morning hug and kiss.

Volke scooted across the bed and burrowed his head into Nephenee's pillow to inhale her scent; he grunted when something crispy plastered itself onto his cheek, and his first thought was that Ryo had left leaves in his bed again. Then the former assassin opened his eyes at last to realize it wasn't a leaf, but a piece of paper that was on the pillow.

Puzzled, and overall a bit sleepy, Volke grabbed the paper and turned it over. All thoughts of sleep evaporated within the second.

He would not find her that morning.

_I'm sorry, Volke. _


End file.
